PM Sellal: “Commission report on constitutional revision conveyed to Pt Bouteflika”

The report of the commission in charge of the revision of the constitution was handed over to the President of the Republic, Mr Abdellaziz Bouteflika, Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal told the press Tuesday in Algiers.

Mr Sellal made the announcement outside a ceremony held in tribute to late Syrian poet Souleymane Al Aissa who had profusely extolled in his vibrant poems Algeria during his lifetime.

The Prime Minister said that the head of state should now study the relevant report and bring in his own remarks to be conveyed to the commission for any revamping of certain provisions of the future amended constitution.

“No decision has as yet been taken as to the projected constitutional revision and it’s up to the President of the Republic to decide at the appropriate time”, Mr Sellal explained.

Shrouded with fuzziness, the revision of the constitution has remained in limbo, since the setting up of the relevant commission last April, during the hospitalization period of President Bouteflika in France.

This announcement also comes at a time as rumours are rife about the possible postponement of the next Presidential polls and the extension of the President’s current mandate by two years.

For her part, a member of the commission, Mrs Fouzia Benbadis, earlier told reporters on the sidelines of a symposium on democracy held at the council of the nation that the project was on the way of being finalized.

She added that the commission, made up of jurists and experts, had made a great leap forward in its task stressing that the report had been virtually sealed and ready for delivery.